by VK Fourstone
Half an hour later the team assembled in Link’s room, studying the faces of the people who would be going to the conference with a full access pass in their pocket.
“This is the plan,” Link was instructing. “I know the hotel where they are all staying, I’ve stayed there before. The central hall there is very convenient – you can see everyone coming in or going out. There are sofas and tables in the hall. You will position yourselves there, pretend to be engrossed in a conversation and wait for someone from the list. Follow him to see which room he is in and, gentlemen, I would rather not even pronounce the word ‘steal’, but that is exactly what you’ll have to do with his pass.”
Wasting no time, all set off to carry out the plan. At the entrance to the hotel Bikie bent down and picked up a little piece of blue plastic.
“Bikie, you’re like a kid, picking up all sorts of bright colored garbage.”
Bikie grumbled something to himself. If there was such a thing as a translator for grumbling, it would have produced approximately the following: “You are a little kid, you don’t realize that I’ve picked up a room key card from the hotel. I would explain to you how it could be useful, but you wouldn’t understand anyway.”
They took up position on a sofa in the central hall. Bikie opened his laptop and started sharing his impressions of New York with Isaac. Pellegrini pretended to be listening. About half an hour went by. Isaac noted that the commissioner was poised like a pointing gun dog. Except that he wasn’t nuzzling at the wind.
“Our first one,” the commissioner whispered.
Isaac looked round at the front desk, where a man with a suitcase on wheels was checking in. It was Dr. Burgers, one of the conference participants. From the polite way in which he was spoken too, he seemed to be an important person. Isaac thought regretfully that he did not take the trouble to find out about the participants’ achievements; for them Dr. Burgers was just someone with a full access pass.
Isaac turned towards Pellegrini, but the commissioner wasn’t there – he had set off towards the front desk. No one but Isaac seemed to notice the way he walked past Dr. Burgers at the precise moment when the receptionist was handing him a blue key card and telling him how to get to his room.
Pellegrini came back and said curtly:
“Two, one, zero.”
Burgers had taken room two hundred and ten.
“Let’s wait for one more before we leave.” The commissioner’s voice had a professionally commanding tone. That couldn’t be helped. But this time his tone turned out particularly harsh. “This one is an Austrian. So he must be jet lagged. He’ll settle into his room and probably won’t leave it again until morning catching up on his sleep. Best to drop in for the pass when he’s out. Tomorrow morning that is.”
Bikie protested.
“One will be enough. I’ve got a little idea. You go on, I’ll come out with Isaac later, so as not to create a crowd at the exit.”
“Bikie, have you come up with something?” Isaac asked after the commissioner left.
“You bet! Look, the shift is changing. The new staff haven’t seen what the new guest looks like yet. And that’s our chance.”
“I don’t get it.”
“Look and learn.”
Bikie walked across to the attractive looking brunette who had just started working at the reception desk. Reaching her, he lowered his eyes and asked with a slight stammer:
“Do you happen to have a charger for a phone like this? I’ve got an old model, it discharges quickly.”
Bikie put his mobile phone, brightly colored in rock’n’roll style, down on the desk.
“Certainly we do. Are you a guest in our hotel?”
“Yes I am. I’ll leave the phone with you to be charged and go and get a coffee at the Starbucks nearby.”
“Very well, certainly. Your name?”
“Burgers. Please, I’m so forgetful, can you stick the number of my room, 210, on the phone. If I forget it, just send it to the room.”
“Yes, of course, Mr. Burgers.”
“Oh, you’re most kind!”
The girl smiled, pleased with the good start to her shift.
“Let’s go and have a coffee,” Bikie said when he came back.
In the coffee bar he explained.
“Look Isaac, have you never noticed that the more brazenly you behave, the more timid people around you get? And vice versa, the more modest you are, the more aggressive others get. As if there a constant amount of cockiness in the air, and if someone breathes in more of it, then others get less. But never mind that, the main thing is, if you act with self-assurance, other people will believe in you too.”
“Bikie, why have you suddenly started talking like a business trainer on TV? What are you driving at?”
“Right now I’m not talking about training, you know. But about how I’ll get the key to the doctor’s room.”
“And how’s that?”
“You’ll see. Just watch.”
Bikie went back to the hotel, walked up to the same girl and asked for his mobile phone. Then, holding out a key-card, he added:
“You know, there’s something wrong with this plastic card. It’s probably demagnetized, it doesn’t open the door.”
“Just a moment, do you have any ID?”
“Not with me. I left it in the room.” Bikie ran one hand across his breast pockets to illustrate.
“Hmm, well, not to worry. I’ll reprogram it right now. Are you in two hundred and ten?”
“Yes, glad you remember me,” Bikie said with a broad smile. “Although it’s hard to forget someone who keeps annoying you with stupid requests, isn’t it?” the pseudo guest asked, still flirting with the receptionist.
She smiled back.
“Here’s your card. Enjoy your evening.”
Bikie and Isaac went to the elevator, rode up to the floor where the doctor was staying, came back down and walked out into the street.
“Bikie, you say I’m lucky, but the real lucky dog here is you,” Isaac declared.
“Why is that? Psychology is neither more nor less than a science, Isaac.”
“Bikie, just imagine if that girl had asked for some detail out of your ID.”
“It was all covered, I have already read everything about that doctor and I know his full name and date of birth.”
“You mean you were ready to state his date of birth?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm, Bikie, did you realize that the professor you just impersonated is about sixty?”
“Oops…” Bikie laughed.
Later Pellegrini, who was least conspicuous and had most practice, sneaked into the room and collected the sleeping Doctor Burgers’ pass.
Everything else was ready for the break-in. They’d have to figure out the details on the spot.
15
Link declared that he had to be present at the moment of the break-in, it was essential in case of a technical problem. But he could be recognized, so this contingency had to be addressed using the art of makeup. Bikie and Isaac went to a little carnival costume shop in the Garment District to buy what was needed.
Isaac loved fantasizing on the subject of the past, and his imagination ran riot yet again.
“Bikie, imagine that the two of us are living in ancient times, I’m a great king, you’re my advisor, and we’re walking along the market stalls, surrounded by merchants, local people and out-of-towners, silks and yarns.”
A big wooden armchair stood on a large stone podium right at the entrance to the shopping mall. A fat elderly gentleman was sitting in it, with a shoe shine man on a low stool in front of him, moving his hands briskly as he worked on the man’s black crocodile shoes.
Pointing to the chair, Bikie declared solemnly:
“Oh king, there is your throne, it will be free very soon now.”
“Oh my servant, look, your stool next to my legs is not occupied either.”
They bantered with each other all the way to the
costume shop. They bought a false beard, which looked very natural, a wig and some makeup putty for altering the shape of the nose and cheekbones. Link would be unrecognizable.
As soon as they got back, Pellegrini told them he had a plan for getting the professor in without an invitation.
Evening started to draw in and Isaac went down to the lobby to call Michelle before it was too late by her time. She was glad to get his call. After hanging up the last time they spoke, she really didn’t want to call first.
“You are cruel to me, Isaac” Michelle rebuked. “You could have phoned sooner. There’s been no news from you for three days and I have been worried.”
“Sorry, hon, I’ve been overwhelmed. These past days have been grueling.”
“A call is just two minutes! You really could have found the time.”
“Well, I’m sorry. I’m just very tired. And not quite acclimated yet.”
“How are things going?”
“Everything’s fine. We’re making progress. We’re going to a conference tomorrow.”
“Will it happen there?”
“Possibly. Depending on the circumstances.”
“Good God, and I have to stay here, sick with worry! Isaac, please, can I come?”
“I love you, Michelle. But if you’re here, I’ll be distracted all the time. Thinking about you.”
“Well thank you so much for that!”
“Oh please, Michelle!” Isaac added in a pleading voice.
“I want to be there with you. It’s my life, you don’t need to make decisions for me. Why are you fussing over me like a nanny? I am twenty-five. I am an independent, grownup girl.”
“Do whatever you like.”
“I always act as I think fit.”
“Michelle, I have to go. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Isaac walked wearily back to his room. In the morning he had to call Vicky in the hospital. He kept forgetting that he could only do that in the morning because of the time difference.
An hour later there was a knock at his door. Isaac reluctantly got up and opened it. Standing there in the doorway was Michelle!
“Come in. I thought it must be you,” chuckled Isaac. He really was very happy but tried not to show it, keeping a strict facial expression.
“I’ve been in New York since yesterday. But mind you, if you hadn’t called first, I would never have come round!”
“And of course, Bikie gave away where we’re staying?”
“He’s not such a tedious dumb head as you are.”
“I’m serious.”
“I like you especially when you are that serious.”
Isaac immediately relaxed, hugged Michelle close and kissed her.
“Thanks for coming.” There was nothing else he wanted to say.
A long, tender kiss… how Isaac had missed that! He looked at her, as if trying to make sure he wasn’t dreaming, like he did when they didn’t yet know each other. There was a mischievous glint in her eyes. Keeping her eyes on him, with a gentle half-smile she started slowly unfastening the top buttons of her coat, under which … there was nothing. Letting him know very clearly what she wanted, but allowing him make the first move. After that he took over. As he removed his T-shirt, Isaac felt the ground slipping from under his feet. He was overwhelmed by an all-encompassing sense of adoration. Michelle was mind-blowingly sexy! “She is perfection – no, she’s even better!” was the last thought that flitted through his mind before he was swept into a different dimension of passion.
Bikie and Link came down to breakfast later than usual - they had already adapted to New York time, no longer feeling like waking up at six in the morning, as they did the first few days.
Isaac ordered breakfast in his room. He didn’t want Bikie to see Michelle, or he would torment Isaac with his comments; however he still didn’t manage to avoid Bikie’s gibes. It looked like Michelle and Bikie had been in collusion from the very beginning.
Going down into the lobby five minutes before they were due to set off, Isaac found the whole team gathered, including Pellegrini.
“You owe me,” Bikie whispered in his ear with a smile. “Something in chrome.”
Pellegrini gave Link his final instructions, then turned to the others. His special ops skills showed clearly. “After all,” Isaac admitted to himself, “things feel calmer somehow with Pellegrini.”
“So, you and Bikie enter here, through the separate entrance for those with invitations. Make sure you haven’t forgotten them. Take your IDs. Then Link and I go in together,” the commissioner continued in a confident tone.
Professor thought it over for a while and nodded.
“The conference starts at ten. Since this is the opening, there will probably be a delay for about fifteen minutes, there are always organizational hitches. While there’s a crowd it will be easier for us to blend in. At 9:50 we all meet by the elevator.”
“What about a pass for Link?” Isaac asked.
“I took care of that, don’t worry. I made a colored copy of my own.”
Isaac had time to call the hospital and talk to the doctor. Vicky was fine, she could come round at any moment. A promising way to start the day, although Isaac had been hoping to hear her voice before their plan was put in action.
They reached the Museum, and leisurely walked inside. Link followed, Pellegrini was right behind him. Link held out his pass. He was asked about something and started explaining. At that moment Pellegrini pretended to stumble and shoved Link so hard that he almost went flying through into the hall, and barely kept his balance. Some coins, a pen, a Dictaphone, scattered on the floor. Pellegrini immediately created a commotion, making fussy apologies, helped Link to collect things, accidentally on purpose having dropped his invitation and police badge. He picked them up and apologized at great length to the ticket inspector, whom he had also caught with his elbow. Tugging Link’s false pass out of the dumbfounded employee’s hand, he handed it to Link, apologizing yet again. Spotting the commissioner’s police badge, the inspector immediately calmed down. To be on the safe side, he also apologized because there was such a crush at the entrance. The crowd outside was swelling, and the inspector turned to the next visitor, trying to let people through more quickly.
The incident was successfully closed. Pellegrini took Link by the arm and offered to show him to the restroom and help him get tidied up. The inspector carried on checking people coming in.
Ten minutes later they all gathered by the elevator as arranged. They walked into the cabin and pressed the basement button. A little red lamp came on and Link pressed the stolen card against the terminal. The lift smoothly started downwards. Pellegrini was the first to the doors and walked out confidently. Link and Bikie followed him, with Isaac being the last.
They were all in for a disappointment: they saw a glass partition, a lounge with sofas, doors to meeting rooms. Nothing resembling a laboratory or a server room. Isaac ran the full length of the corridor twice before it was finally clear that they had arrived at the wrong place.
Pellegrini stopped a girl walking by, half-opened his jacket to show his badge and asked where the laboratory was.
The frightened staffer explained that they had to go down one more level, and they all darted to the elevator, which was still standing there.
There was another button below “-1”, but to press it you had to insert some kind of a key. Pellegrini pressed on the keyhole anyway, but the cabin didn’t move.
“This pass doesn’t have clearance to go lower. Only this far, to the meeting rooms,” Link said disappointedly.
Suddenly the lift started moving, but, alas, upwards - someone had pressed the call button. The lift skipped past the zero, first and second floors and the doors opened at the third. Two elderly men and a security guard were standing on the landing. Isaac’s heart sank into his boots.
“I’m sorry, we need the lift. This is the service elevator. Could you please vacate the cabin?”
/> They hurriedly got out. Link walked out with his head lowered, as if he was inspecting his shoes. The men got in and the doors closed.
“That was Blake, the UN Deputy Secretary General,” Link explained gloomily. “The one I handed over the technology to before I went into hiding.”
Meanwhile Pellegrini was counting something, looking down at the spiral walkway and the throng of people down below.
“What are you counting, Pellegrini?”
The commissioner ignored Isaac’s question and carried on counting.
“They went down to minus two,” was the answer he gave later. “Or rather, minus two and a half. Obviously the ceiling must be one and a half times the normal height. That’s where we have to get into.”
“Right, Link, you stay here,” said the commissioner, taking full control. The fact that only recently they didn’t trust him had been quickly forgotten, it was history. “Or better still, get away from here. You could be recognized. Who has the device?”
“I do,” Bikie replied.
“I’m coming too,” Link put in. “I have to be there.”
“OK, you and Bikie go to the café and wait for our signal. “Isaac, go and mingle with the crowd and listen. Listen to everyone who looks like a local, an American. Follow what they’re talking about. Look for people who work in the building. We have to find someone who has a card with lower level access. If you find one first, call me, I’ll try to pinch it. Bikie, Link, if anything happens, leave.”
Isaac and Pellegrini shot off downwards and separated, mingling with the crowd. Everyone was speaking English, but it was pretty easy to tell European English from American. Isaac listened intently to the conversations. People were swirling about and there was no way of telling who he had already listened to and who he hadn’t. But he tried at least to understand who worked there. He tried to stick to those who had bodyguards or were not carrying briefcases, which meant they could have an office in the building.
